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Keep Food Legal
Executive Director of Keep Food Legal, a nonprofit that advocates for decreased regulation; lawyer and a columnist for the libertarian publication, Reason magazine
PROFILE
Baylen Linnekin
Guest
FROM Baylen Linnekin
To the Point
The Bitter Battle over Added Sugar in Your Food Obesity is a major health problem in the United States, and sugar is one of the causes. Even foods that already contain natural sugar have more sugar added as they're prepared for the market. Food labels already tell you the total amount of sugar. Now the FDA wants to break that down , so you know how much has been added. That's led to a lobbying frenzy, with 287,889 public comments. If Campbell Soup, Coca-Cola, Kellogg cereals, the Dairy Industry and two state governors are against you, you must be doing something right. That's what the food-and-nutrition police say about industry opposition to the FDA proposal. One health-advocacy group analyzed 80,000 food products, found 58% contained more sugar than they have naturally and insists that consumers ought to know. We hear about the lobbying frenzy over an idea first introduced by Michelle Obama.
To the Point
Can Government Control Obesity? The agriculture industry has made food so cheap and so plentiful that one third of Americans are obese and another third overweight. Twenty six million people have Type 2 Diabetes, with 79 million more on the way. With a major push from First Lady Michelle Obama, the federal school lunch program has been revised to limit the intake of calories, require whole grains and double the serving of fruits and vegetables. New York's Mayor Bloomberg has banned extra-large soft drinks . With predictions that half the country will be obese by 2030, it's all about controlling a spreading pandemic. But there's also a backlash. Students and teachers in Kansas went on YouTube singing, “ We are Hungry ." A Republican Congressman has introduced the No Hungry Kids Act . Is it necessary for government to police the diets of America's children? Will it work? Is the Nanny State just going too far?
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To the Point
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
To the Point
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.
To the Point
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.